Sex slavery to deliver male babies--another vehicle for HIV spread to women

[Guest guest]

" Jharkhand girls sold in Haryana, Punjab for bearing babies

Tribal girls from Jharkhand are being sold by an organised racket of

traffickers in the northern states like Haryana and Punjab where they

are forced into sex and abortions till they deliver male babies. The

horrifying stories of the Jharkhand girls, who were even killed for

resisting the sexual slavery, were confirmed to IANS by the state

social welfare department.

" Our inquiry has revealed that three girls were sold to different

persons to deliver male babies. Presently they are in different 'Naari Niketans'

(women's homes) of Haryana, " Social Welfare Secretary Sukhdeo Singh told IANS.

Probing into the allegations, the state social welfare department

found a number of cases.

Rani Kumari (name changed), a resident of Darhi village of Ranchi was

one among the unfortunate girls. She was sold to Ajmer Singh of Dohla

village of Jind district in Haryana last year. She was murdered in

February.

According to officials, Rani first delivered a male baby with Ajmer

Singh, who enacted a farcical marriage with Rani. After delivering the baby,

Rani was forced to undergo the same with brothers of Ajmer to beget male babies

for them too. Her refusal was at the cost of her life.

Sarita (name changed) was taken to New Delhi two years ago with

assurance of a job. She was sold to a person in Haryana. She too had

to bear a male baby for the man.

Likewise, Rinki (name changed) was lured to New Delhi with a job

assurance and sold to a person of Punjab where she was raped too for a baby.

She, however, managed to escape and later was rescued by a

woman's home.

When the issue came to the notice of the Jharkhand government, the

social welfare department started a probe. A team was sent to Haryana

and it was found that the girls sold had to pass through sexual

slavery to deliver male babies.

" We were shocked to hear the plight of these girls and what they had

to undergo to deliver the male babies. After the delivery, the girls

are either deserted by their tormentors or forced again into sex with

some other man for bearing babies again, " said an official who visited

Haryana.

The officials said the urge for a male child in Haryana and Punjab is

so strong that the men are ready to pay any amount to purchase girls

for fathering a boy.

The men-women ratio in these two states is fast deteriorating, with

the number of females going down drastically.

Officials said the Jharkhand government was trying to bring those

girls back home and rehabilitate them. It was also trying to detect

more such cases so that the girls caught in the web could be rescued.

Every year, thousands of girls migrate from Jharkhand in search of

jobs to different cities in the country. Many of them land in wrong

hands and are subjected to abuse or sold.

Some of the girls return home with AIDS.

Source WEBINDIA123 from (IANS). "

http://www.newindpress.com/Archives/Login.asp

Comment: Obviously in trying to get the girls pregnant, no protection

is used. Men that would buy a woman for forced delivery of a male

child undoubtedly view women as simply objects to fulfill their needs.

If women are consumer goods to these men, property, then I wouldn't be surprised

that these men are regular customers of sex workers.This

seems to be a familiar theme of men forcing the virus onto women

through forced sex, literally---we need to do something to address

these social constructs.

Raakhi Mohan

E-mail: <raakhi_mohan@...>